Health-related quality of life and correlation with clinical severity in patients with acne: a cross-sectional study at a single centre in China.

OBJECTIVES

The presence of acne can significantly impact patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL); however, the correlation between patient-reported HRQoL impairment and clinician-evaluated severity has been unclear. The objective of the study was to evaluate HRQoL in patients with different acne severity using generic, dermatology-specific and acne-specific instruments and investigate the correlation between clinical severity and HRQoL.

DESIGN

Data for the cross-sectional survey were extracted from March 2017 to December 2018. The convenient sampling strategy was used to select participants.

SETTING

The study was conducted at the Department of Dermatology, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1056 outpatients participated in the survey, and 962 patients were analysed in the study.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

The generic instrument (EuroQol 5-Dimensions 5-Levels, EQ-5D-5L), dermatology-specific instrument (Dermatology Life Quality Index, DLQI) and acne-specific instrument (Cardiff Acne Disability Index, CADI) were administered to assess HRQoL and the Global Acne Grading System was used to measure clinical severity.

RESULTS

The mean health state utility (HSU) EQ-5D-5L score of 0.96 (SD: 0.06), a total DLQI score of 6.84 (SD: 4.88) and a total CADI score of 5.72 (SD: 2.81). Patients with moderate and severe acne showed greater impairment compared with patients with mild acne, as evidenced by significantly lower HSU scores (-0.017 and -0.066) and higher DLQI (1.457 and 2.043) and CADI scores (0.726 and 1.685). Clinical severity was weakly correlated with HRQoL scores for all acne severities (rs=-0.131 to 0.167).

CONCLUSIONS

Acne is associated with significant HRQoL impairments, especially in terms of psychosocial functioning. It is very important to incorporate HRQoL assessment into clinical practice in future research, and dermatology-specific and acne-specific HRQoL instruments should be used in combination to assess the health status of acne patients.